South Africa are all set to pay a rather heavy price for not putting their best skills at the forefront and they are now in danger of being taught a lesson or two by a team that is threatening to make a habit of pulling themselves out with a draw in the first Test of the series and then, making the opposition pay in the second.
graeme swann2
Andrew Strauss could not have been a happier man as the England captain, looking back at the position England were in at Centurion barely a week ago in the first Test and where they find themselves at stumps on the fourth day of the second Test at Kingsmead, Durban.
For Graeme Smith, this is a scenario he would not have anticipated at the start of the day's play, even though England did have a lead of forty-three runs and seven wickets to play with.
England had Alastair Cook pull through a rough patch with a Test century yesterday and the fourth day was the turn of Ian Bell to show that his comeback innings was not without merit. Paul Collingwood dislocated a finger in the morning's practice but with no fracture, he was ready to bat if necessary in the second innings. But the England bowlers have virtually ensured that England may not have to face that prospect after all.
On a pitch that the South African bowlers failed to extract anything relevant, England made merry as Bell's relatively belligerent 141 ensured that England developed a sizable lead of 232, enough to give South Africa a few butterflies before tea, and the storm that came over thereafter had everyone gasping for breath.
It all seemed normal until the tenth over when South Africa made twenty-seven runs. But Graeme Swann gave England a shocking insight into how easy it was to trap the pressured South African team. First came the wicket of Ashwell Prince caught brilliantly by Bell and at the stroke of lunch, Hashim Amla was sent packing by Swann.
From thirty-seven for two at tea, South Africa found themselves in the doldrums as Stuart Broad then turned on the charm, showed the South African bowlers the merit of disciplined, aggressive and deadly accurate bowling. He baffled Jacques Kallis to think he was leaving the ball when the ball came inwards to disturb his bails. AB de Villiers' dismissal bore close resemblance to Kallis'. And JP Duminy ended up dragging another ball from Stuart Broad onto his stumps.
From five for forty-four, South Africa were in deep despair as Graeme Smith, the South African captain, was pegged by a Swann lbw and at twenty-two, the top scorer of the game left the hosts in dire straits at six down for fifty.
When bad light eventually brought the game to a halt, Morne Morkel and Mark Boucher were roughing out at seventy-six for six, South Africa in a fair bit of trouble and hoping despite that the weather takes a turn for the worst.
weather conditions in durban
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